Follow Dr. J’s Into, Through, & Beyond Approach: Brainstorming Tip #8 2

Follow Dr. J’s Into, Through, & Beyond Approach: Brainstorming Tip #8

Your essay needs to grab readers from the first word. You are competing for the fleeting attention of admissions officers who have dozens if  not hundreds or thousands of essays and files to process. So don’t waste their precious time and tell them a story that no one else can tell. That will help you get admitted to the match college of your choice.

So follow my three pronged approach.

INTO: With your INTO, grab us into the story with a moment in time. That moment must reveal a core quality. The INTO can be a sentence, paragraph, or series of paragraphs.

THROUGH: Then go into two levels of THROUGH.

• THROUGH 1 provides the immediate context of the INTO.
• THROUGH 2 provides the overall context.

BEYOND: End with a BEYOND that is not sappy but powerful. Think of a metaphor that guides you and weaves through your story and into your ending.